Simeon De Witt

Simeon De Witt (25 December 1756-3 December 1834) was the Surveyor-General of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He was the cousin of Governor of New York DeWitt Clinton and nephew-in-law of James Clinton.

Biography
Simeon De Witt was born on 25 December 1756 in Wawarsing, Ulster County, New York to a family of Dutch-Americans, and he attended Queens College in New Jersey (now called "Rutgers University"). After the British Army captured New Brunswick, De Witt headed to New York City to enlist in the Continental Army and was trained as a surveyor by his aunt's husband James Clinton in 1778. After the Surveyor-General Robert Erskine died in 1780, De Witt became the new Surveyor-General, and he would produce a state map of New York in 1802. De Witt was one of the commission members supervising the construction of the Erie Canal, and he would free his four slaves at his Albany residence by 1810. De Witt died on 3 December 1834.